Government Information

These pomological paintings were created in response to the rise of fruit breeding and production by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the mid 1800's. The site includes over 7,000 paintings that document fruits and their variety. These paintings were used in bulletins and yearbooks which were distributed to farmers and growers.

These paintings are now preserved in the National Agricultural Library and used for research. The digitized versions are available in high definition and are free to view and download.

Readers can learn more about the history of this collection, the artists, and find paintings of specific fruits using their common or scientific name.

Additional topics slated to be added to the guide in the upcoming months include export controls, scientific communication, and social responsibility. If you know of a resource that you think appropriate to be added in a current topic section, please email Julie Simpson in Research Integrity Services.

The new RCR Library Guide is the latest in a series of research ethics resources developed by the RCR Committee. They include:

Our current featured Government Information resource is provided by the USDA. Choose MyPlate provides practical information to individuals, health professionals, nutrition educators, and the food industry to help consumers build healthier diets with resources and tools for dietary assessment, nutrition education, and other user-friendly nutrition information.

As Americans are experiencing epidemic rates of overweight and obesity, the online resources and tools can empower people to make healthier food choices for themselves, their families, and their children.

MyPlate illustrates the five food groups that are the building blocks for a healthy diet using a familiar image - a place setting for a meal. Before you eat, think about what goes on your plate or in your cup or bowl. MyPlate also provides tips for eating healthy foods on a budget and adding physical activity to your routine.

With calculators, quizzes, tip-lists, and even videos, MyPlate provides a wide range of tools to help you make more informed choices about your health.

In April and June of this year, The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) discovered two separate but related cyber-security incidents that have impacted the data of Federal government employees, contractors, and others.

The UK National Archives presents this collection of images taken over nearly 100 years of African history, dating from the 1870s to the 1960s.

The photographs document life during the Colonial period in Africa, showing visiting British royals, anthropological observations, hospitals, mission schools, and local markets. An 8-minute introductory presentation by the National Archives Diverse Histories Specialist, Jenni Orme, provides context by pointing out the differing attitudes found in the colonial era vs. the present day.

A small selection of the images can be browsed on the National Archives website. To see the complete collection (CO 1069 series), links are provided to Flickr, where the images are arranged in groups by geography.

The National Archives also invites visitors to add their own knowledge, by tagging and commenting on the images on Flickr.

This attractive and edifying interactive map-based resource, from the American Battle Monuments Commission, will serve as a support to educators teaching the First World War, and to anyone with an interest in how the war began, how it developed, and how it finally ended.

The history is divided into seven periods, including The Pre-War Period, each year from 1914 to 1918, and the Post-War Years. Clicking on any of these will redraw the World War I Timeline, detailing important events, campaigns, and the ebb and flow of the Allied and Central Powers.

Short video clips accompany many of the Timeline items, bringing the history of the war to life.

For more information on this resource and other government resources, please visit our Government Information page.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which NASA launched in February 2010, is a "sun-pointing semi-automatic spacecraft," a mini space observatory that is designed to study the sun so that scientists may better understand the causes of solar variability and its effects on Earth.

For educators who are teaching about the power of our solar system's only star, or for anyone interested in breaking research on the sun, this is a fascinating website.

Readers might like to start with the Mission tab, which lists information about the SDO's science, the spacecraft itself, the team that is running the project, and 1968 refereed publications. News & Resources is interesting for its Mission Blog, which offers updates on the mission as instruments are repaired, data is gathered, and conclusions are drawn.

The Gallery section also offers some powerful images, animations, and videos of the sun. SDO even has a YouTube Channel and can be followed on most social media outlets.